Coffee roasting millionaire, it is possible. I have discovered that you can get into the coffee roasting business very inexpensively. Americans, and pretty much everyone around the world, love their coffee. In just about every major city there is a community of people – hobbyists and businesses alike – who roast and sell coffee. Admittedly most are not millionaires, but that is only a reflection on how big they think. It is not too complicated. Basically to get started you buy raw beans, roast them, package them, and then sell the coffee either ground or as roasted beans. The entry costs to roasting and bagging coffee are fairly low and there is a mountain of information available online and elsewhere to show you how to do it. The hardest parts of this – and most every other – industry are the marketing and sales. Roasted coffee sales have a large market and you are not required to have a ton of experience, or capital, to get started. How much you grow your business is entirely up to you.

Coffee beans with tamper. Coffee business concept

The raw beans are then roasted to just the right flavor.

Coffee Roasting Business For Sale

While researching this chapter I found one coffee roasting business for sale online for $98,000. The one-man company had gross sales of $216,000 and a net profit $66,000 the previous year. This is a 30% net profit and he was selling wholesale only. The margins could be even better for retail but he would have more costs. The sales ad stated the owner only sells wholesale to coffee houses and restaurants. He roasts one day a week and delivers two days a week with one part time employee. It looks like there is definitely room for growth. His roaster does fifty lbs. of coffee in fifteen minutes and could easily handle up to $120,000 of roasted coffee to sell a month before he needed more equipment. That is an annual gross sales limit of about $1,440,000 a year with the equipment already owned by a company selling for under $100,000.

Coffee Roaster’s On Way to Million Dollars

Serie di caffè con sfondo scuro

Many ways to enjoy coffee.

I also know a couple in Florida whose coffee roasting business is on track to do $300,000 a year by their third year. Their start-up cost was only a couple thousand dollars; they bought a website and a roaster from someone needing to get out of the business because of poor health.    These two small coffee businesses are still in the process of getting their owners $1,000,000 in the bank. Here is a story of a coffee company that has already delivered millions of dollars to the owners.

$340,000,000 in 14 Years

In 1992, newlyweds John and Kim Puckett raised money to start the first Caribou Coffee shop in Edina, Minnesota. The Puckett’s sold their controlling interest in the company in 1998 for $120 million. It took them six years to make $120,000,000. This is not a direct comparison to the roasting business, because they also had coffee shops. Coffee roasting and coffee shops are two different businesses, but they can be done individually or together. An additional footnote is Caribou Coffee was sold again in December of 2012 for $340,000,000. Of course how can any discussion of coffee go by this day and age without mentioning Starbucks? But forget Caribou or Starbucks, the coffee market is so large you can cut a little chunk out and no one would even notice while you become a millionaire.

Continued Research into The Coffee Business

I plan to continue to do more research into the coffee business.  I am talking to some coffee shop owners and digging into other businesses related to coffee. If you have questions of your own let me know, make a comment or e-mail me. I can make sure I include your thoughts into my interviews when I get them. Don’t forget you must believe you can get $1,000,000 someday. If you think you will need financial partners, it does not hurt to start lining them up too. Remember you can start a business even  if you have no money with help from others.

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